The Redesigned SAT: What to Know & What to Do
Many, many people seem to be up in arms about the changes coming to the SAT in 2016: “Is it going to be really different?” “Why can’t I find any materials for it?” “How will I prepare?!” Frankly, we’re right back to where we were in 2004 when College Board announced that they were making changes to the SAT in 2005 and came up with the current version. This is not the first time the exam has changed and likely not the last. If anything, you have to admire the College Board (and Educational Testing Service – the actual makers of the SAT) for continually innovating their product to keep it current and relevant. Furthermore, the best way to manage the uncertainty—as you would in actually taking the SAT—is to relax and take the information in as it comes. In fact, the information that we do have indicates that the exam may in fact be more accessible and (dare I say it?) easier, particularly for UK students than the current version.
2. Embrace Change
As in life, the people who succeed on standardized tests are those who can adapt their skillset successfully to new contexts and the changing marketplace. Personally, I find it odd that some test preparation agencies (good ones, too) are perpetuating the mania surrounding the redesigned SAT. Isn’t this—how to handle the unknown—why people seek our advice? Preparing students for a test isn’t all about teaching them what they need to know; test preparation is in large part about preparing the student to successfully manage the moment/question/situation when they don’t know what to do. The redesigned SAT, currently seen as a “great unknown” by some, presents this situation in spades. I say embrace the change; embrace the challenge. As students and as educators, we are all about to learn a whole lot about how we handle dynamic changes in the marketplace. The lessons learned from this experience, like the last redesign in 2005, are ones that we can take with us and apply towards other situations in our lives to help us succeed.
3. The Core Question
Until the College Board releases more substantial information in the coming months (such as a full practice test, prep books, and online prep programs), students may consider: “Is the ACT a realistic option for me?” If the answer is yes, then you should commit to the ACT as your test of choice and leave all of the redesigned SAT chatter behind. US universities view the ACT in as high a regard as they do the SAT. In fact, in our experience, UK students find the ACT to be a great fit with the GCSE/A-Level curriculums. The ACT is a straightforward exam and tests you more on what you know than the (current) SAT, which is more a test of how you think. The best way forward is to sit and take a diagnostic ACT. If it feels like a natural fit, again, commit to the ACT and start preparing for the fall. If the ACT does not feel like a natural fit, then simply wait a few weeks. When College Board releases more information in the spring, you can revisit this question.
4. What Exactly is Changing on the SAT?
The SAT wants to become a better predictor of college and career readiness with respect to the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st Century Workforce. As a result, the exam will undergo a series of significant changes, all which officially debut in the US in March 2016 and in the UK in May 2016. The Critical Reading and Writing sections on the current SAT will be replaced by one section: “Evidence-Based Reading & Writing.” The Math section will cover a smaller range of topics, but go into deeper depth on those topics. The Evidence-Based Reading & Writing and Math sections will each be scored from 200-800. The highest composite score, currently 2400, becomes 1600. The exam will also feature an optional essay that is scored separately from the composite score.
Furthermore, incorrect answers no longer cost students points. College Board also eliminated sentence completions, which inspired many, many hours of vocabulary revision. Calculators will now be permitted on only one of two sections of Math. Aside from those changes, the redesigned SAT offers students and school officials more comprehensive data and reports on student performance and readiness across a wide spectrum of academic skills. Lastly, College Board intends to offer the redesigned SAT in both paper and, at some point, computer format.
5. Advantages of the Redesigned SAT
For all of the questions surrounding the current SAT vs. the redesigned SAT, in truth, early adopters, especially in the UK, of the redesigned SAT may have significant advantages. For one, as previously established, the redesigned SAT appears to align better with the material that UK students have seen in school during GCSE/A-level years than the current SAT. In general, US students learn “less about more” in our educational system. In the UK, however, students seem to learn “more about less.” Thus, in going deeper into certain academic areas, the redesigned SAT Math, for example, seems like a great fit for UK students who study Maths at A-level and/or who did well in Math at GCSE. Similarly, for non-Maths oriented students, preparing for the redesigned SAT may be a lot easier than preparing for the current SAT Math or even the ACT Math – there is potentially less to learn. Plus, the elimination of sentence completions frees students up to dedicate more time towards the exam as a whole rather than towards studying somewhat random vocabulary that means little to nothing outside the context of the exam.
Lastly, the curves on the first few administrations of the redesigned SAT may be quite strong. For example, back in 2005 when the current SAT debuted, in order to score a 700 on the Writing section, a student needed a multiple choice raw score of about 40 out of 49 possible points (assuming an essay score of 10 out of 12) to break 700 on the scaled score. That lasted for about three years. As the market became more familiar with the test, the curves shifted. In about the fourth year of the test, a multiple choice raw score of 45 (assuming an essay score of 10 out of 12) out of 49 possible points became necessary to break 700 on the scaled score. I would not be surprised to see a similar trend a few years after College Board releases the redesigned SAT.
In a nutshell, for UK students, the early indicators on the redesigned SAT promise a better test preparation experience and potentially terrific scores – better than those one might see on the current SAT. Like anything else, if you approach it from the right state of mind and manage to keep yourself under control, you’ll be successful and distinguish yourself from other testers.
Please feel free to email us at info@catestutoring.co.uk with any questions. CATES offers free mock tests, free score analyses, and free follow-up consultations. If you would like to take free diagnostic ACT to help determine the way forward, please contact us and we will be happy to help.
Good luck!
